# Swimming at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metre backstroke

The women's 100 metre backstroke event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place on 7–8 August at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium.

## Summary

After a world-record breaking victory in the 400 m individual medley two days earlier, Hungary's Katinka Hosszú touched out the U.S. swimmer Kathleen Baker at the home stretch to capture the sprint backstroke crown, and her second gold medal at these Games. Approaching the 50-metre lap, Baker pulled herself ahead of the field with a marginal lead, but Hosszú passed the American at the final 25-metre stretch to touch the wall first with a Hungarian record of 58.45. Falling three tenths of a second short of the Olympic title, Baker picked up the silver instead at 58.75. Meanwhile, Canada's Kylie Masse and China's Fu Yuanhui tied for the bronze in a matching 58.76, breaking their national records respectively.
Trailing Hosszú by a 0.35-second margin, Denmark's Mie Nielsen finished off the podium with a fifth-place time in 58.80, while Baker's teammate Olivia Smoliga moved up to sixth with a 58.95. London 2012 silver medalist and reigning World champion Emily Seebohm faded to seventh in 59.19, with fellow Australian swimmer Madison Wilson (59.23) finishing behind her by 0.04 of a second to round out the championship field.
The medals for the competition were presented by Frankie Fredericks, Namibia, IOC member, and the gifts were presented by Ben Ekumbo, Bureau Member of the FINA.

## Records

Prior to this competition, the existing world and Olympic records were as follows.
| World record | Gemma Spofforth (GBR) | 58.12 | Rome, Italy | 28 July 2009 |
| Olympic record | Emily Seebohm (AUS) | 58.23 | London, United Kingdom | 29 July 2012 |

## Competition format

The competition consisted of three rounds: heats, semifinals, and a final. The swimmers with the best 16 times in the heats advanced to the semifinals. The swimmers with the best 8 times in the semifinals advanced to the final. Swim-offs were used as necessary to break ties for advancement to the next round.

## Results
### Heats

| Rank | Heat | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | 3 | Kathleen Baker | United States | 58.84 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | 4 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 58.99 | Q |
| 3 | 5 | 3 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 59.07 | Q |
| 4 | 4 | 4 | Mie Nielsen | Denmark | 59.13 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | 5 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 59.13 | Q |
| 6 | 3 | 5 | Olivia Smoliga | United States | 59.60 | Q |
| 7 | 4 | 6 | Georgia Davies | Great Britain | 59.86 | Q |
| 8 | 3 | 4 | Madison Wilson | Australia | 59.92 | Q |
| 9 | 4 | 5 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 1:00.02 | Q |
| 10 | 3 | 3 | Anastasia Fesikova | Russia | 1:00.04 | Q |
| 11 | 3 | 2 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:00.13 | Q |
| 12 | 5 | 2 | Dominique Bouchard | Canada | 1:00.18 | Q |
| 13 | 4 | 8 | Matea Samardžić | Croatia | 1:00.46 | Q |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | Wang Xueer | China | 1:00.59 | Q |
| 15 | 4 | 1 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 1:00.87 | Q |
| 16 | 3 | 7 | Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir | Iceland | 1:00.89 | Q |
| 17 | 3 | 8 | Simona Baumrtová | Czech Republic | 1:01.08 | |
| 18 | 5 | 1 | Kira Toussaint | Netherlands | 1:01.17 | |
| 19 | 2 | 5 | Claudia Lau | Hong Kong | 1:01.27 | |
| 20 | 5 | 8 | Yekaterina Rudenko | Kazakhstan | 1:01.28 | |
| 21 | 2 | 4 | Alicja Tchórz | Poland | 1:01.31 | |
| 22 | 4 | 7 | Katarína Listopadová | Slovakia | 1:01.43 | |
| 23 | 3 | 6 | Daria Ustinova | Russia | 1:01.45 | |
| 24 | 3 | 1 | Mimosa Jallow | Finland | 1:01.58 | |
| 25 | 5 | 6 | Etiene Medeiros | Brazil | 1:01.70 | |
| 26 | 5 | 7 | Natsumi Sakai | Japan | 1:01.74 | |
| 27 | 2 | 3 | Alexus Laird | Seychelles | 1:03.33 | |
| 28 | 2 | 2 | Kimiko Raheem | Sri Lanka | 1:04.21 | |
| 29 | 2 | 6 | Lara Butler | Cayman Islands | 1:04.98 | NR |
| 30 | 2 | 1 | Caylee Watson | Virgin Islands | 1:07.19 | NR |
| 31 | 1 | 4 | Gaurika Singh | Nepal | 1:08.45 | |
| 32 | 1 | 5 | Evelina Afoa | Samoa | 1:08.74 | |
| 33 | 2 | 7 | Talisa Lanoe | Kenya | 1:10.02 | |
| 34 | 1 | 3 | Rita Zeqiri | Kosovo | 1:12.31 | NR |

### Semifinals
#### Semifinal 1

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 6 | Madison Wilson | Australia | 59.03 | Q |
| 2 | 5 | Mie Nielsen | Denmark | 59.18 | Q |
| 3 | 4 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 59.32 | Q |
| 4 | 3 | Olivia Smoliga | United States | 59.35 | Q |
| 5 | 2 | Anastasia Fesikova | Russia | 59.68 | |
| 6 | 7 | Dominique Bouchard | Canada | 1:00.54 | |
| 7 | 8 | Eygló Ósk Gústafsdóttir | Iceland | 1:00.65 | |
| 8 | 1 | Wang Xueer | China | 1:01.44 | |

#### Semifinal 2

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| 1 | 4 | Kathleen Baker | United States | 58.84 | Q |
| 2 | 3 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 58.94 | Q |
| 3 | 2 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 58.95 | Q |
| 4 | 5 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 59.06 | Q, NR |
| 5 | 6 | Georgia Davies | Great Britain | 59.85 | |
| 6 | 7 | Kirsty Coventry | Zimbabwe | 1:00.26 | |
| 7 | 1 | Matea Samardžić | Croatia | 1:00.60 | |
| 8 | 8 | Duane da Rocha | Spain | 1:00.85 | |

### Final

| Rank | Lane | Name | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | 5 | Katinka Hosszú | Hungary | 58.45 | NR |
| | 4 | Kathleen Baker | United States | 58.75 | |
| | 2 | Kylie Masse | Canada | 58.76 | NR |
| | 3 | Fu Yuanhui | China | 58.76 | NR |
| 5 | 7 | Mie Nielsen | Denmark | 58.80 | |
| 6 | 8 | Olivia Smoliga | United States | 58.95 | |
| 7 | 1 | Emily Seebohm | Australia | 59.19 | |
| 8 | 6 | Madison Wilson | Australia | 59.23 | |